Eylon Levy

Eylon Aslan-Levy, is a British-Israeli figure who served as the Israeli government spokesman from the start of Gaza war until March 2024, when he was suspended due to complaints from the UK government about his public criticism of their stance toward Israel and the war. Levy continues his public advocacy work, with a podcast partly-sponsored by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. Levy attended University College School in London, before going onto Brasenose College at the University of Oxford, where he received his bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 2013. While studying at Oxford, he participated in debate championships around the world. In his final year at Oxford, he also co-wrote A Theory of Justice: The Musical, a satirical musical comedy adapting John Rawls's A Theory of Justice; premiering in 2013, it was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe later that year and at a London West End production in 2018, and was nominated for numerous awards.

He received his master's degree in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, where he wrote his thesis on the issue of Jewish refugees from the Arab world in Israeli foreign policy. While at Cambridge, Levy ran unsuccessfully to become President of the Cambridge Union Society. He moved to Israel in 2014 at the age of 23 to enlist in the Israeli military during the 2014 Gaza War, and served in the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit.

Career 2010s In 2014, Levy published a column for The Guardian newspaper, "Obsessive Gaza coverage is fanning antisemitism". Levy complained about what he estimated to be disproportionate media coverage of Israel, claiming that it fuels antisemitism in Europe. Levy also condemned accusations of genocide against Israel and those that invoke the Holocaust to criticize the country. The Tower Magazine, and The Daily Telegraph. Since 2013, he has been contributing blog posts to The Times of Israel.

In 2016, Levy worked as the chief news anchor at IBA News, the English-language broadcast on Israeli public television. He later worked at the international news network i24NEWS, as a news anchor, commentator, and investigative journalist. The Times of Israel praised Levy for his interview performance, writing that Levy is “energized, assumes a Sphinx-like expression and delivers an impressive barrage of well-reasoned, well-crafted arguments.” labelling protestors at pro-Palestinian protests in London, where pro-Hamas signs have been present, as "rape apologists". Levy made the comments in the context of Sexual and gender-based violence in the October 7 attacks. Levy replied that he challenged anyone offended by the term to hold up a sign at a pro-Palestine march with the sentence "I condemn Hamas for raping Israeli women and girls". He claimed that South Africa is complicit with Hamas and is "playing the role of devil's advocate because of its criminal complicity with the bloodiest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and [Israel] will judge it without mercy."

Suspension Sara Netanyahu On January 22, 2024, the Times of Israel and the Jerusalem Post reported that Sara Netanyahu, wife of the current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, tried to oust Levy from his spokesperson role for participating in the 2023 Israeli judicial reform protests before the Israeli war on Gaza. Levy's posts on X (Twitter) had reportedly circulated among persons in the prime minister's inner circle and upset some of them. Sara Netanyahu's endeavor to dismiss Levy aroused significant public outcry over what was seen as her overreach. The Movement for Quality Government in Israel promptly petitioned the government's legal advisor, urging the issuance of guidelines delineating the specific domain within which she is authorized to intervene in and unjustly or illegally influence governmental affairs. Later that day it was reported that Sara Netanyahu had reprimanded Israel's Ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely for praising Levy whom Hotovely called a "wonderful public diplomacy star", with Sara Netanyahu denying having done so. At the same time it was reported that Levy would be allowed to stay on as an international spokesman, but that his media appearances would be less frequent.

According to a Channel 12 report on January 21, 2024, officials opted to reduce Levy's public appearances promptly, with a complete removal from the position anticipated within the following few weeks, while the official rationale behind this decision would be stated to be the government's expressed aim to project a more diverse image to the international media. "I hope you are also aware there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity. Test us. Send another 100 trucks a day to Kerem Shalom and we'll get them in."Cameron disputed Levy's claims that there were "no limits" on the entry of aid into Gaza, and that the Kerem Shalom border crossing into Gaza was closed on Saturdays because of the UN, in a letter addressed to MP Alicia Kearns: After leaving his position as a spokesperson, he was replaced by David Mencer.

Post-suspension Podcast After suspension,Levy founded the State of the Nation podcast in which he interviews guests about Israel, antisemitism, and Jewish history. The podcast is partly funded by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism and the initiative is supported by the Minister, Amichai Chikli. The project raised more than $300,000 in less than a week.

Public speaking In September 2024, he embarked on a public diplomacy speaking tour in Australia for the Jewish National Fund Australia. He engaged with over 5, 000 members of Australian Jewry in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Months prior to his tour, he was interviewed by Australia's SBS Hebrew. In October and November 2024, he addressed Jewish communities in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary with StandWithUs.

On 31 October 2024, he gave a lecture at the University of Calgary, sponsored by StandWithUs. 200 pro-Palestinian protestors attempted to disrupt the lecture, chanting "From the river to the sea" and accusing Levy of genocide. The lecture was cut short by campus security over safety concerns, and students evacuated through a hidden back entrance. Levy was harassed by protestors on the way to his car. Levy condemned the "hateful extremism" of the protestors, but added that he was "pleasantly surprised" by the number of non-Jewish students that attended his lecture, describing them as "genuinely curious and empathetic." On 5 November, Levy spoke at Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal. 40 masked pro-Palestinian protestors gathered outside the synagogue. The protestors were condemned in a joint declaration by the Federation CJA and Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Honors In April 2024, Levy appeared on the cover of the weekly newspaper, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles with the cover headline "Mr Hasbara".

Translation and other work

As a Hebrew-to-English literature translator, Levy has translated several influential works of Hebrew non-fiction. In 2022, he was named the inaugural translation finalist of the Sami Rohr Prize in recognition of his translation of Danny Adeno Abebe's memoir From Africa to Zion. Among his previously published works:

Catch-67 by Micah Goodman (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018) IsraeliJudaism by Shmuel Rosner and Camil Fuchs (Jerusalem: JPPI, 2019) The War of Return by Einat Wilf and Adi Schwartz (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2020) Shimon Peres: An Insider's Account by Avi Gil (London: I.B. Tauris, 2020) The Story of Secular Jews by Amnon Rubinstein (Tel Aviv: Kotarim, 2021) The Wondering Jew by Micah Goodman (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021) From Africa to Zion by Danny Adeno Abebe (Tel Aviv: Yediot Books, 2021) The Israeli Century by Yossi Shain (New York: Wicked Son, 2021) The Fifth Fiasco by David Passig (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2021) Frayed by Yair Ettinger (New York: Koren Publishers, 2023) Hostage by Eli Sharabi (HarperCollins, 2025) A wider internationa

Levy was the co-creator of the musical comedy A Theory of Justice: The Musical, which premiered in Oxford in 2013 and was revived for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it was nominated for four awards.

In popular culture Eyebrow incident and memes

On 23 November 2023 TV, Sky News anchor Kay Burley interviewed Levy during which she asked him whether Israel's plan to release 150 Palestinian fighters in exchange for Hamas freeing only 50 Israeli hostages, one Israeli for every three Palestinians, implied that Israel perceived Palestinian lives as inferior. Levy raised his eyebrows dramatically in apparent disbelief at the question and stayed silent for a moment, then replied that Burley's accusation was "astonishing", continuing "If we could release one prisoner for every one hostage, we would obviously do that". Clips of Levy raising his eyebrows went viral on social media. The next day on X (Twitter) Levy expressed further frustration, and then joked "my eyebrows are tired".

Since the eyebrow incident, Levy has been portrayed in other video clips, memes, sketches and other expressions of popular culture.